The stories behind some of Queenstown’s most infamous leaky buildings will feature in a new three-part docu-series, airing on free-to-air Sky Open, formerly Prime.
The first series of John Hagen Productions’ A Living Hell: Apartment Disasters, screened in 2021, looked at the appalling state of apartment buildings in New Zealand, investigating issues around multi-unit dwellings, their construction, maintenance and management.
Fronted by leaky home experts John Gray and Roger Levie, the second season — which starts this weekend — includes a visit to the resort.
Hagen says the team interviewed Queenstown council CEO Mike Theelen, former mayor Jim Boult, and Invercargill-based developer
Ross Wensley, whose company developed apartments in the resort in the late 2000s, which have subsequently cost ratepayers — through council — millions of dollars.
The repair bill on the 41-unit Oaks Club Resort, on Frankton Rd, developed by Wensley’s company, is estimated to cost up to $45m — it closed on September 1 for remediation, expected to take two years.
Mountain Scene reported in December, 2021, those owners sued the council, for signing off the building, and other parties.
They settled days before a scheduled court case in a deal that allegedly cost ratepayers $40m.
The 73 owners of the 84-unit Oaks Shores had also been suing the council and other parties for $162.9m, however, that was also settled for a confidential sum.
Scene’s chief news hound Philip ‘Scoop’ Chandler was also interviewed for the series, due to this paper’s extensive coverage of the issue.
The first episode airs at 8.30pm this Sunday — Queenstown’s features in the third episode, on February 18.
